Reuters - Asian shares hit their highest level in more than five months on Wednesday and the euro hovered close to an 8-week high as investors kept hopes alive for an agreement on details of a new Greek bailout package despite further delays.

AP - A resurgent Rick Santorum won Minnesota's Republican presidential caucuses with ease Tuesday night and was declared the victor in Colorado as well, a stunning sweep that raised fresh questions about front-runner Mitt Romney's appeal among the ardent conservatives at the core of the party's political base.

AP - GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich did his best to ignore his poor showing in three states Tuesday, spending the day campaigning in Ohio and staying out of sight when primary results rolled in from Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri.

AP - Authorities have released 911 recordings that revealed a social worker's frantic attempts to alert authorities that Josh Powell had locked himself and his two young sons in his home moments before he set the house on fire, killing everyone inside.

AP - Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum made a calculated decision a few weeks ago.

AP - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shifted his focus from the economy to abortion, religious freedom and gay marriage in recent days, part of an intensified effort to win over social conservatives in states voting Tuesday.

AP - The police commissioner's TV host son won't face criminal charges of sexually assaulting a woman who said he attacked her after a date last fall, prosecutors said Tuesday.

AP - A Missouri teenager who confessed to murdering a young neighbor girl was described as a thrill killer by prosecutors and a mentally disturbed child by her defense attorneys as a judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or something less.

AP - When students return to the school where two teachers were jailed last week for alleged lewdness, they'll have new teachers in their classrooms, a new principal in the front office and new workers serving lunch.

AP - Oil prices rose to near $99 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after an unexpected drop in U.S. crude supplies suggested demand is improving.

AP - Rick Santorum has won the Missouri Republican primary, a nonbinding election that carries bragging rights but does not award any delegates in the race for the presidential nomination.

AP - A memorabilia collector and self-styled expert on presidential history pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to steal thousands of documents signed by leaders throughout U.S. history.

AP - Students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine, an idea that has drawn the attention of federal regulators and raised questions about how accessible emergency contraception should be.

AP - Same-sex marriage moved one step closer to the Supreme Court on Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled California's ban unconstitutional, saying it serves no purpose other than to "lessen the status and human dignity" of gays.

Reuters - Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors will step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with an internal overhaul, including discussions on dealing with its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan.

AP - Gov. Jerry Brown's appointee to head the department that oversees banking, financial and consumer regulations in California led a trade association that fought against tighter lending restrictions before the subprime mortgage crisis exploded and was an executive with Washington Mutual when the now-failed bank was among the most aggressive marketers of loans to high-risk borrowers.

AP - When it started, American teenagers were doing "The Twist." The United States had yet to put a man into orbit around the Earth. And a first-class U.S. postage stamp cost 4 cents.

AP - Attorneys on Tuesday narrowed their pool of potential jurors in the trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend.

AP - For a president who promotes technology at every opportunity, Barack Obama often strikes an awed, self-effacing pose in the presence of technicians, scientists and high tech machinery.

AP - Eli Manning hoisted the Lombardi Trophy from a glittering blue-and-white float, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg joked that New York City should now be nicknamed the "Big Blue Apple," as thousands of fans crowded lower Manhattan on Tuesday to celebrate the New York Giants' Super Bowl victory amid tons of confetti.

AP - It was just last summer that the Dow Jones industrial average shed 2,000 points in three terrifying weeks. Investors had a host of things to worry about, including the possibility of another recession.

AP - The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that its net income rose 12 percent in the final quarter of 2011, as a slimmer movie slate and upbeat theme park results helped the company top earnings forecasts even while revenue gains were less than expected.

AP - Hammered by Republicans and the Catholic Church, the White House hinted at compromise Tuesday as it struggled to calm an election-year uproar caused by its rule requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth control.

AP - Hammered by Republicans and the Catholic Church, the White House hinted at compromise Tuesday as it struggled to calm an election-year uproar caused by its rule requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth control.

AP - Ben Bernanke says the job market isn't as strong as the steadily declining unemployment rate might suggest.

AP - A vice president at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure resigned Tuesday, saying the breast cancer charity should have stood by its politically explosive decision to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.

AP - Political turmoil over abortion and birth control spread suddenly on Tuesday. A high-ranking official resigned from the Komen breast-cancer charity after its backtracking treaty with Planned Parenthood, and Republican presidential candidates blistered the Obama administration for a recent ruling on Catholic hospitals and contraception.

AP - Greece's private creditors signaled progress late Tuesday on a debt-relief deal but crucial talks between Greek coalition leaders about forcing more austerity upon a hostile public were again postponed.

AP - In a reversal, President Barack Obama is embracing the big-money fundraising groups he assailed as a "threat to democracy" on the grounds they let money corrode elections. His shift is a pragmatic move to win re-election, and a concession that his team had no choice but to catch up and go along with today's supercharged rules.

Reuters - An appeals court on Tuesday found California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional in a case that may lead to a showdown in the Supreme Court.